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The Northern Newsletter

Tag: book-review

  • Book review of ‘The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner’ by Alan Sillitoe

    Oliver Mellor

    Title: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner 

    Author: Alan Sillitoe 

    Publisher: W.H.Allen Ltd

    Genre: Social realism and fiction

    Published in 1959, The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner is a social realism short story featured in a compilation with the same title. This story established Sillitoe as a member of the ‘Angry Young Men’ due to the story’s protagonist – Smith – being labelled as a ‘belligerent and opinionated’ young man, especially towards the class division of the time. However, the novella defies this by pushing the boundaries of its classification. Its message catapults the story and its relevance into our society as we face similar scenarios.

    The beginning of the narrative details the life of a poor working class teenager from Nottingham who lacks any regard for his future, endeavouring into the sport of petty crime. Similar to the rest of those deemed outsiders, Smith experiences social alienation as he is left to survive on his own in a constantly punishing system. Evidently, this causes him to be caught by the police for thieving and is therefore sentenced to be imprisoned in Ruxton Towers, a young offenders institution. During this portion of his life, he discovers his passion for long distance running which develops into a clear motif in the play for a sense of belonging and an escape from the confinements within society, even stating ‘running is the road to self-discovery’. The authorities then notice his physical prowess and decide to take pity on Smith offering him a light workload for his sentencing, but only if he agrees to win a cross-country competition against a highly prestigious public school. Optimism and adrenaline fuels the crowd, Smith speeds ahead of the other competitors yet deliberately begins to slow down eventually stopping a mere few meters away from the finish line. Despite the taste of victory being within his grasp, Smith casts his winnings away in favour of a defiant demonstration of his hatred against the Ruxton Towers administrators. Even with his realisation that he will be dealt heavy amounts of criticism and even worse manual labour, Smith posses no regrets as he believes he has achieved what he deemed worthy of his duty to society. 

    There are clear themes within this novella, from the mistreatment of the working class to being prejudged and deemed weak. The narrative explores the weight of their contributions exceeding those of the rich but still being viewed as fruitless and futile. Clearly illustrated when Smiths sentencing is softened only if he conforms to the authorities agreement, exploiting our protagonist even further. The most significant motif within the short story is the runner himself, the metaphor is able to prominently imply a need for isolation from society’s noise. Arguably allowing Sillitoe to include a political undertone, since when he runs away he is able to mentally reflect personally on himself with clarity, communicating to his audience. This helps the reader to develop with Smith as we both learn of the class division in Britain and how it affects the poor, gradually snowballing our realisation into drawing similarities from now and then. 

    I would certainly recommend this book to those who believe in a need for social reformatory, and especially those who are passionate ‘angry young men’ who are desperate to voice their opinions as mute witnesses.

  • An event featuring author and filmmaker Matt Dickinson

    Oliver Mellor

    On Thursday the 11th of April, myself and lots of lucky students had the pleasure of attending an eye opening event with author and filmmaker – Matt Dickinson. Who is most notably famous for ascending into the clouds through the notorious North Face of Mount Everest in 1996, amid the worst inclement conditions ever recorded. This would leave a significant mark on the author as it influenced him to write ‘The Everest Files’ – an award winning trilogy. 

    I attended the event as an exclusive journalist, where I was able to learn about Matt’s enthralling adventure through the narrow corridors of publishing and during his exploration through the worlds library. He has met authors such as Jeff Kinney, Michael Morpurgo and astonishingly at Edinburgh Book Festival; Matt met the then unknown writer of the Harry Potter series – J.K Rowling who was preparing to publicise the first of a soon to be successful series. As well as his writing career, Matt has also worked on the debut series of ‘Man Vs Wild’ which not only begun but elevated the then unknown Bear Grylls’s and his future career. Which the students had the grotesque experience of viewing Bear consume a pair of Palm Weevil grubs, alive and wild. 

    Continuing on his influences, Matt told us about how he himself had become interested regarding Everest and his creativity. The Ascent of Everest by John Hunt which Matt had been given by his grandfather was the match that sparked his future. 

    Since we were all completely encapsulated within the idea of writing our own individual climb up the almost unconquerable peak, Matt then proposed that we could write a piece of writing in the style of a postcard. Which would entail our experience or journey upon the ‘goddess mother of the world’. Helping to enhance our imaginations, Matt had collected pictures to paint his powerpoint canvas. These detailed the Mountains beautifulness while contrasting this with some lamentable and startling ones that certainly taught the attendees the power of mother nature. Arguably, the most notable pictures proposed the argument of should Everest become a tourist attraction or stay sacred and belong to the locals. This could clearly be seen as certain pictures showed the landfill and exploitation of the porters*. Once the event had closed, the students were able to have their books signed by Matt himself and to be treasured forever.

    I am certain that myself and the fellow attendees would recommend this experience to anyone else if they want to attend a future talk featuring Matt. Definitely, also check out Matts books and notably the fascinating Everest Files trilogy. Perfect for those interested in Geography, creative writing and a thrilling story.

    *A porter is someone who is employed to carry luggage and other loads. Shockingly, some porters are even as young as 16 and hired to carry 116 kilos for £8 a day. 

  • A necessary legacy: International Women’s Day

    Oliver Mellor

    On Friday the 8th of March 2024, my school celebrated International Women’s Day. A necessary event that highlights and celebrates the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. This captivating event allowed recognition and honour for those who have contributed to society, it also allowed us to reflect upon those who sometimes are unfortunately overshadowed and deserve significantly more appreciation. Those who attended were greeted by three individuals who had completely different experiences and interesting stories to share. These speakers were: Carolyn Mayling, Chérie Taylor Battiste and Katrina Hodge.

    The first speaker to share her story was, Carolyn Mayling who is the founder of Rosie’s Rainbow Fund. Rosie’s Rainbow Fund are a charity who use music and other forms of therapy sessions at John Radcliffe Children’s Hospital in Oxford, Royal Berks Hospital in Reading and Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury. Established after Carolyn’s daughter Rosie, who was bright, creative and theatrical person regretfully became ill in December 2002 and eventually diagnosed with vasculitis, sadly passed away on May 14th 2003. However, Rosie’s legacy lives on after her expression to raise money to help children undergoing lengthy hospital stays. Her family were able to not only make that a reality but could also provide forms of therapy for tens of thousands of seriously ill, life-limited, disabled and special-needs children, as well as their parents, siblings and other family members. We wish future success for this incredible organisation of caring and charitable people.

    The second speaker was the famous poet and actor Chérie Taylor Battiste who was able to share multiple poems she had written herself regarding personal experiences from her novel Lioness. Most notably was the astonishingly powerful and expressive poem about the Japanese art of Kintsugi, this is when broken objects, usually ceramics are pieced together with gold lacquer. This poem perfectly symbolised emotion and the imperfections of beauty and truth. I would highly recommend purchasing a copy of Lioness by Chérie to discover even more captivating poems.

    The final guest speaker for this event was former soldier and beauty pageant winner Katrina Hodge. Katrina’s exceedingly inspiring and motivational story begins when she enrolled within the army and was sent to Iraq, when she was challenged and told she wouldn’t be able to do it. After serving for a number of years and earning a commendation for her bravery while wrestling two rifles from a prisoner following a road traffic accident. After she would enter Miss England without any expectations of winning it, but despite that she would be crowned on the 7th of November 2009. Most notably as Miss England, she would persuade the organisers to remove the bikini round from the competition. In an attempt to change people’s views of beauty pageants from being just about looks to surrounding more of the contestant’s personality. In 2011, Katrina would release her very own novel called Combat to Catwalk which detailed her experiences and impressive journey.